As the City Council tries to wrap up its work for the year, here’s what it got up to today.
This afternoon the Council passed a pair of bills extending the emergency bill assistance programs for Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities until the end of 2022.
It also approved a collective bargaining agreement with employees of the Office of Emergency Management — but only until the end of December 2021, and those employees are part of a coalition of union-represented city employees jointly negotiating new contracts with the city for 2022.
Tomorrow’s meeting of the Sustainability and Renters’ Rights Committee was cancelled this afternoon; no word yet on why.
The agendas for Wednesday’s two committee meetings have now been published: Transportation and Utilities in the morning, and Governance and Education in the afternoon. The T&U meeting will include:
- Councilmember Mosqueda’s proposal to waive street vacation fees for affordable housing projects;
- an update to the regional salmon habitat plan;
- a land-swap with King County to address a property encroachment issue near Boeing Field;
- approval of Seattle City Light’s biennial energy conservation target.
The Governance and Education Committee will take up one issue: a proposed update to the Council’s rules and procedures.
Councilmember Mosqueda announced that her next Finance and Housing Committee meeting will be on December 7. On the agenda:
- a public hearing on the city’s annual housing action plan required by HUD;
- a vote on her bill waiving street vacation fees for affordable housing projects;
- appointments to the Domestic Workers Standards Board;
- a Race and Social Justice Initiative report from the Department of Finance and Administrative Services.
Councilmember Morales announced that her Community Economic Development Committee will meet on December 10th, and the agenda will include appointments to the Human Rights Commission and the Women’s Commission.
This morning the Council was briefed by the Office of Intergovernmental Relations on the upcoming state legislative session, and received a first draft of the city’s state legislative agenda. Council President Gonzalez committed to putting it on the agenda for the Council’s approval before it adjourns for the year. The state legislature will be holding a “short session” next year, convening from January 12 to March 10 in a “hybrid” online and in-person format.
Councilmember Herbold noted this morning that the Human Services Department is accepting applications for its Youth Employment Program job readiness bootcamp.
Herbold also highlighted today’s big SDOT announcement: that the final stage of repairs for the West Seattle Bridge kick off today. Re-opening is still expected to be next summer.
Councilmember Lewis highlighted some positive news related to the homeless response. First, the Friendship Heights Tiny House Village opens tomorrow. Second, the expansion of the Interbay tiny house village is complete; Lewis said that resident should be moving in shortly. Third, the Regional Homeless Authority has published a Notice of Funding Availability for new non-congregate alternatives to shelter.
Finally, Council President Gonzalez announced that she will be out of the office late this week through next Monday as she travels to Arizona to attend the Local Progress board meeting.